Fire
by FanWriter02
Summary: Hiccup is adjusting to life as chief and life without his father. But when a fire breaks out he might lose Astrid too. Retitled. Rated K First story ever written by me! :D


**Title: Fire**

 **Summary: Hiccup is trying to adjust to life without his father, when a fire breaks out and he might lose Astrid too.**

 **Hello How to Train you Dragon fans!**

 **I honestly don't like fanfictions after the second movie, because it gets me depressed and reminds me whats gonna happen in the 3rd movie- which I hope all the rumors aren't true. Anyone else with me on that?**

 **Drop a request and I'll see if I can write something for you! If you want more really good How to train your Dragon fanfiction- that's really good and clean- go to Beyondtheclouds777.**

 **Enjoy!**

Hiccup jumped down from Toothless's back, taking in the sight of home. But a feeling of loss suddenly welled inside of him. Although he'd been home for almost a week since Drago's attack on Berk, the sight of the damage done still pained him. Not only that, but he would not be welcomed by his father when he arrived at his house. Hiccup fought the urge to weep, as he walked down the dock and up towards town. Toothless seemed to sense his mood, for he followed him with his head waving just inches from Hiccup's side. Hiccup dropped the satchels of metal off at the work shop, then continued on. When Hiccup stopped before his home, Toothless gave him a gentle nudge.

Hiccup let his hand rest on the night fury's head. "Thanks, bud. I needed that." He said quietly as he went up the stone steps. He entered and watched as Toothless walked directly to the heart, where he quickly settled down after spraying flames around himself. Hiccup sighed and was just about to walk upstairs to his bedroom when a gentle voice stopped him.

"So you're back." His mother said walking to the large stone oven, adding another log to the fire. She looked up at him. "Where've ye been, Hiccup?"

"Eeeer, just flying mostly." He replied, trying to act cheerful. But in truth he was dead tired. All he wanted was his warm bed.

"Ye've been gone all day." His mother persisted. "I doubt that's all you were doing." She stepped closer and looked him up and down. "You're sweaty. What've ye been doing lad?"

Hiccup looked down at his shoe, a sigh escaping him. He looked back up at his mother. "I miss Dad." Was all he said. His mother stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, stoking his hair tenderly.

She pushed him back slightly and said, "I'm sorry Hiccup, for all that's happened to you. But the past is already happened. And I know your father would not want you to grieve like this. He wanted you to live happily." Hiccup couldn't stop a tear from falling down his cheek. Valka wiped it away with her thumb. "Now I'll get you something to eat, and then you can go to bed. You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted." He replied, sitting down at the large table. Toothless let out a huff from the fireplace, giving a little smile in his sleep. Hiccup smiled slightly as he watched the dragon. He still had Toothless, and he was sure he'd never leave him.

"Spent all day looking for more metals. With all the repairs, we needed more." Valka set a plate of fish before him, and he began to eat. Suddenly came a knock at the door.

Valka opened it to find Astrid standing there in her warm fur coat. Astrid stepped inside saying, "I saw Toothless fly in and wanted to check on Hiccup." Then she caught eye of Hiccup eating at the table, and walked to him shrugging out of her coat, setting it on the table next to her as she sat down across from Hiccup.

Valka realized that they probably wanted some alone time. She smiled at them as she crossed the room to her bedroom, disappearing inside before they could say a word.

"How did it go?" she asked quietly.

"Fine, although I had to travel to six different islands to gather it all." He pushed his empty plate aside. "It's been a long day." He took a drink from the wooden cup before him.

Astrid caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Cheer up! You look nothing but down in the dumps lately. I want the old Hiccup back."

Hiccup smiled softly and caught her chin in his cupped hand. "Mom keeps telling me to let my grief go, but it's so hard." He looked up into her eyes. "I miss Dad more with every passing day."

"Your mom's right." Astrid said softly. "Your dad would want you to be happy, not sad like this. Think about it, what would your dad be telling you right now if he saw you like this?"

"'Don't be such a wimp'." Hiccup smiled softly, imagining his dad saying the words. He could almost hear Stoik's voice.

Astrid stood and went to stand by his side. "And we're all here for you. We'll help you through it. Won't we Toothless?" she asked the sleeping dragon, who just twitched his tail at the mention of his name.

Hiccup stood up and turned to her smiling. "Thanks Astrid." He pulled her into his arms. "That means a lot."

Astrid knew exactly what he needed now. So, she turned and gave him a soft kiss on his scratchy chin. He hugged her even harder.

When he pulled away, he looked much better. He grinned "Do you know how much I love you?"

"Why don't you show me?" she teased, as he leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. Then he let go of her and she blushed.

"Dad's going to wonder where I've been. I told him I was just coming to check on you." She went and grabbed her coat before heading to the door. "See you tomorrow. I'm expecting an enchanting ride on Toothless too. You need some vacation time from being chief." And then she was gone.

Hiccup stood there for a minute, thinking about Astrid. Thinking about what it would be like to have her stand by his side forever. He sighed, his face looking like a love-sick pup. That was another thing he needed to do. He must propose to her sometime soon or he'd go crazy.

Valka walked in then, collecting his plate and mug. "You off to bed then?"

"Yep. But I'll be taken a bath first. I feel filthy." He began to crawl up the stairs slowly. His bad leg ached painfully from a long day of flying, and he was almost tempted to skip the bath and go straight to bed.

III

Hiccup felt much better in the morning. Toothless woke him up at seven, like he did every morning. Toothless was at first hesitant, but when Hiccup jumped out of bed and tackled the dragon to the floor, he gave a little roar as he got back on his feet, pushing his friend to the ground, licking his face multiple times.

"Okay okay bud! Get off me now so I can get dressed and can feed you." Toothless rumbled as he sat back, watching Hiccup strap on his prosthetic leg. Hiccup stood to his feet and began to dress in his leather flying suit, with Toothless's black mark on one shoulder. Hiccup fingered the leather, realizing he'd have to make another one before long from all the wear and tear this one had endured.

Valka was making porridge when Hiccup entered the room, fingering the last strap on his shoulder. Toothless plowed past him, heading towards the door, jumping up and down in anticipation.

Valka turned around and smiled at her son, "You look much better this morning." She laughed, "and so does Toothless."

Hiccup laughed and gave his mom a quick hug. "I feel better." He pressed a kiss on her cheek and went to join Toothless. "I'm gonna go feed Toothless, and will be back for breakfast soon." He looked out the door. "There's a lot to do today."

All that day Hiccup helped at the forge, creating more bolts and panels for roofs and beams. After a long day of hard work, Hiccup returned home, exhausted once again, but feeling much better. He didn't feel nearly as depressed as he had yesterday. The only thing that had him down was that Astrid had not been to visit him like she usually did. She had also wanted to go on a ride with him and Toothless, and it wasn't like her to not keep her word.

As he sat down to eat a cold meal of bread and meat, he looked around for his mother. She must be out flying her dragon once again. He figured that after he ate, he'd take Toothless out for a ride. The poor guy, he'd been rather neglected lately, and Hiccup suddenly had a wave of guilt. He reached down and pet Toothless head. The dragon looked up at him and let out a sad sigh.

"Hey, bud, don't look so sad. I'm gonna take you out for a ride after I eat, okay?" Toothless's head jerked up and he gave Hiccup a gummy grin.

Suddenly a loud bell began tolling somewhere in the village. Hiccup jumped to his feet and hurried to the door. Gobber there, just about to knock. "Hiccup, it's a fire towards the west. It's spreading fast- coming this direction."

Hiccup shouted to Toothless and jumped on the dragons back as they took to the sky. Hiccup was heading towards the fire when he noticed the crowd that had gathered towards the west of town. They didn't seem to know what to do. Hiccup landed and immediately everyone begins talking and asking what they should do.

Hiccup shouted above the uproar, "We need to dig a firebreak around the West side of town!" it was then that he noticed Astrid and the others standing nearby. "Snoutlout, Tuff, Ruff, you oversee the firebreak." He looked at Astrid. He was about to tell her to stay and help them. He didn't want her in any danger. But then he bit his lip, knowing Astrid, she wouldn't stay back and let others fight without her.

"Righto chief!" the three said and they jumped onto their dragons and soared away.

"And everyone else, grab any container you can find and fill them up! Get your dragons and we'll start spouting water onto the fire closest to the village!" everyone began to scurry around, but Hiccup ran to Astrid and took her by the shoulders, "You stay here and gather water, got it?" he held his breath waiting. Her answer didn't surprise her.

"Absolutely not." She said taking a handful of his shirt tunic. "I'm going out there on Stormfly with everybody else, if you like it or not. I'm not just gonna sit here and-"

"I got it I got it!" Hiccup shouted pushing her away. He turned back to Toothless, swinging onto his back. "Just be careful, okay? Promise me!"

She nodded her head, and he took off, having Toothless duck down close to the water and filling his mouth with sea water. He then flew up over the burning trees, and began spraying the flames. It only made the flame sputter slightly, and then jump on to the next tree alighting them.

"We need more dragons!" Hiccup shouted to no one in particular. He looked behind him and saw dragons heading his way, all loaded with water, and their riders holding large buckets and barrels. He sighed with relief as he headed back towards the ocean.

He and Toothless flew back and forth from the forest and the ocean, as did everyone else. They were keeping the fire from spreading, but they were nowhere near to putting it out completely. The sun gone down hours ago, and Hiccup was beginning to wonder if the fire would ever end. He flew over the same area he had just sprayed a few moments before, seeing the flames were smaller, but now out completely. Suddenly, a great rumble seemed to come from the sky.

Hiccup looked up, searching for the dragon that had made the noise. Valka flew up beside him.

"What was that?" Hiccup asked still searching. He looked down at Toothless, who didn't seem bothered by the noise at all. "A dragon?"

But then a flash of lightning flashed across the sky above them. Hiccup let out a whoop as he realized what the rumble had been. Thunder! A storm was sitting above them.

"Let's hope it starts raining soon!" Valka shouted to him from the back of her dragon. She sailed away, as the others also began cheering. Hiccup guided Toothless back towards the ocean. The wind was starting to pick up, blowing east.

"That's not good." He said to himself. If the rains didn't come soon, the wind would blow the fire towards town ten times faster. He turned toothless back towards Berk. He wondered how the firebreak was going.

By the looks of it, it was going well. They had dug a break that was nearly eight feet wide, and they had dug it all the way to the beach, so now a thin stream of water divided town from the fire. Hiccup landed besides Fishlegs, who was helping put stones on the west side of the break.

"Hopefully it'll rain." Fishlegs said glancing at the sky. "And soon."

"Yea." Hiccup agreed, "That winds picking up." He looked around, realizing that he hadn't seen Astrid in a long time. Usually he'd pass her between trips to the ocean. But he hadn't seen her for the last half hour.

"You haven't happened to see Astrid anywhere have you?" Hiccup asked Fishlegs.

"No. The last I saw her was hours ago,"

Hiccup was beginning to worry. He climbed onto Toothless and soared back into the air. Then he caught sight of StormFly, and he sighed with relief.

"Astrid!" he called to her. He saw her look at him, and then another boom came and a flash of lighting. StormFly panicked, jerking to the side. Astrid had been preoccupied looking for Hiccup, so was taken surprised, as she lost her seat, and begin to slip down StormFly's side.

Astrid looked over to where Hiccups voice had come from. But in the hazy light, it was hard to tell, especially since Toothless was black. Suddenly, a boom of thunder sounded, startling not only Astrid but Stormfly as well. Stormfly jerked to the side unseating Astrid, and she began to slip. She cried out, trying to grasp onto anything, but her hands found only air. She began to fall through the smoky air, down to the fiery earth below. In the back of her mind, she could hear Hiccup shouting her name, but she couldn't fully focus, and then there was pain, and hen nothing.

"Astrid, no!" Hiccup shouted, "Toothless!" he called to his dragon. They began to dive towards Astrid, who was falling through the sky. StormFly seemed to try and gather his bearings, but he was still spooked.

"Astrid!" Hiccup screamed at her.

"Hiccup!" but then she was gone as she fell through the trees.

Hiccup forced Toothless to land, but the dragon hesitated. "Please, Bud, I have to get to her…" Hiccup cried, tears streaming down his face from grief and from the smoke. Valka flew up beside him.

"I saw what happened! I told them to keep spraying water at this spot. Don't go after her until we've gotten the fire to die down a little-" but Hiccup was not listening. As dragons began pouring water down at the spot Astrid had disappeared, he urged Toothless to land nearby.

Valka called out to them to stop as Toothless hurled threw the charred and blazing trees. Hiccup gritted his teeth against the pain in his arms as they came into contact with the fire. He ignored it and jumped off Toothless as soon as they landed. The smoke was so thick it was difficult to see, and he could scarcely breath. "Toothless," he said to the dragon. Toothless let out a small and weak ball of fire, just enough to clear the smoke and shed some light. Hiccup saw a slumped figure laying on the ground.

"Astrid!" he coughed as the smoke began to cloud together again. He hurried to her, scooping her up in his arms. Her tunic was black and her arms were inflamed from burns. She was unconscious but still alive. He climbed on top of Toothless, holding onto her tightly with one hand, and taking hold of his saddle with the other. "Hurry Toothless!" he shouted. Toothless launched into the air, taking them above the trees and smoke and into fresh air again. Valka flew up beside him, relief plain on her face.

"Is she all right?" she asked. Hiccup nodded his head still gasping for air. "What about you? Your arms-"

"I'm fine. We must get her to Gothe fast." He was just about to go when his mother reached out her arms.

"Give her to me. I'll take her to Gothe. You must stay here and give instructions." She paused, "I know you don't want to but it's for the good. Besides you won't be able to see her for the first half hour anyways-"

"All right but hurry!" Hiccup said. He placed a kiss on her smudged cheek before giving her to his mother. "Don't leave me." He whispered. He had no idea what he would do if he lost her too. But his mother was right. He should stay here and oversee everything. Valka soared away at rapid speed towards Berk.

Just then, rain began to fall in torrents from the sky. Hiccup was soaked within seconds. All the dragon riders began whooping in joy and relief as steam began to rise from the forest when the rain hit the flames. Hiccup smiled softly as he flew up to join the others. "Thanks everyone! Go home and get some sleep!" everyone laughed as they turned to go, but Fishlegs, Snoutlout, and the twins flew up from the fire break and were passing jokes from one to the other.

Snoutlout flew up to Hiccup, "Where's Astrid?" he asked.

"She fell off of StormFly into the fire. Mom took her to Gothe. I should go and check on her. Will you guys stay here and make sure no one else was hurt and nothing was damaged?"

"Sure, thing Hiccup. And you'd better get your arms looked at as well." Fishlegs called as they flew away.

Hiccup didn't hesitate. He took off towards Gothe's house, sitting up on the edge of a cliff. He landed Toothless on the deck, and raced inside.

Valka and Gothe were sitting at a table besides a fireplace in the small room. There was also a large oven and bed, but the bed was empty. Hiccup began to panic.

"Where-What?" he stuttered.

Valka stood, "Astrid's fine, Hiccup. She's sleeping." She motioned towards a door in the back. Hiccup immediately headed for it. "But I want Gothe to look at your arms before you look in on her."

Up until that moment, Hiccup had ignored the pain screaming from his arms. Gothe came forward, silent as usual, as she began to pull him towards the table. Hiccup sat down beside his mother, and Gothe began to smear an ointment on his arms. He hissed through his teeth as the ointment made his burns flare with pain. Valka set her hand on his shoulder, gently massaging it. He wished Gothe would hurry, but she took her merry old time, slowly smudging the dark liquid over his arms. Finally, she finished and bandaged him up, and he jumped to his feet, heading for the door. No one tried to stop him.

He entered the dim room, a torch on the wall the only thing that shed some light. Astrid lay on a bed in the corner, with furs pulled up around her.

Hiccup made his way towards her, trying to be quiet, although his metal leg made it difficult. On one hand (bandaged of course) he wanted to wake her up and make sure she was okay, and yet he knew she needed her rest to get better. He knelt beside her bed, gently letting his thumb trail down her cheek. Her face and hair were clean, unlike when he'd last seen her when she'd been covered in soot and grime. Her hair was slightly damp, but braided as she usually had it to keep it from falling in her face.

She didn't move, the only movement being the steady rising and falling of her chest. Hiccup took hold of her hand and stared at her face for a bit longer, then began to realize how tired he was. He'd been working all day and half the night nonstop. His eyes began to droop, and he leaned forward, resting his head on his arm, his other still holding onto Astrid's hand. He didn't last much longer, and was soon asleep.

Astrid blinked her eyes open, not sure where she was. It was dark out, the only light being from a torch on the wall. She was in a small room, and she recognized it from the time Hiccup had lost his leg so many years ago, while he'd been recovering. She was at Gothe's. She ached all over, and her arm stung painfully. She turned her head looking towards a door, and then realized the slight pressure on her hand.

Her eyes were still slightly blurry, and she waited for them to focus clearly. Then she saw Hiccup, asleep with his head on his arm, still holding her hand. She first off noticed how dirty he was, his flight suit covered in soot and had a rip in it on one arm, and his bandaged arms and hands. She smiled softly, as he mumbled in his sleep. She didn't wish to wake him, seeing how exhausted he was, but she did want to talk to him. So, she lifted her hand from his and brushed his bangs away from his face. He just mumbled as he gently swatted her hand away. She tried again, gently pushing his shoulder. He blinked his eyes open, and blearily looked at her. Then he came fully awake as he sat up quickly moving closer towards her.

"Astrid! You're awake- how do you feel?" he asked, concern written all over his dirty face. He turned and coughed into his arm, still watching her.

"I'm fine, Hiccup. I…I feel kind of weak but otherwise all right. What about you? Your arms…" she said gently taking his hand.

"Oh I just burnt myself a little." Hiccup fell silent as he stared at her. He finally sighed, "I was so worried I'd lost you too. I…it's all my fault. I shouldn't have called to you during a storm like that, or-"

Astrid lifted her finger to his lips, shushing him. "Don't you dare say that Hiccup. Don't you dare. That could've happened to anyone. Don't go blaming yourself. You… you have to learn not to do that Hiccup. It was not your fault I fell. It wasn't anybody's fault. It was just an accident."

Hiccup tried to hold back the tears, but they seemed to ignore him as a silent tear coursed down his cheek, leaving behind a clean trail. Astrid leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, comforting him.

"shh." She said.

Hiccup shuddered and then hugged her back. "I'm so glad you're alright. I…I love you so much… if I had lost you…"

Astrid leaned back and then leaned forwards kissing him smothering his last words. Hiccup felt his worry and fear fall away, as he realized that it really would be okay. He smiled as he kissed her again.


End file.
